Mickelson playing Mr. Nice Guy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After causing quite a stir the last time he played the Wells Fargo Championship, Phil Mickelson has slipped quietly back into the tournament this year.

Wearing a purple shirt and his normal "How-lucky-am-I-to-do-this-for-a-living?" expression, "Phil the Thrill" shot a scrambling 69 on Thursday.

A fan yelled to him after he teed off at No.10: "I've got you down for 5 under on the back nine, buddy!"

While Tiger Woods — at least the old Tiger, back when he won golf tournaments — would have glared at this interruption, Mickelson instead offered a smile and a thumbs-up.

Sure, he'd be the fan's buddy. Isn't that why he's the most popular golfer in America? We all see a little of ourselves in Mickelson. A little bit of a belly, a toothy grin, a knack for incredible recovery shots, a Sharpie always in his pocket when it's autograph time that's Phil.

After the fan's comment, Mickelson made two straight birdies, finishing off a string of four birdies. But somewhat typically, Mickelson had trouble controlling his driver for much of the round and ended up 3 under par mostly because of good putting.

"It could have been a lot better, could have been a lot worse," Mickelson said. "I'll certainly take it."

Mickelson — who has four top-5 finishes in the tournament in his seven years playing it — is tied for 11th after the first round and five strokes behind leader Bill Haas.

"I hit some good iron shots," Mickelson said, "but I think off the tee I've got to get the ball in play a little more. …I didn't probably drive it as well as I need to if I'm going to get myself in contention for the weekend."

Mickelson finished second in the 2010 tournament at Quail Hollow. He thought on Sunday morning that a score of 11 under par would be good enough to win it, then went out and got there.

It wasn't enough. Mickelson finished second instead to Irish phenom Rory McIlroy, who was 20 at the time and made six straight threes on the final six holes to win by four strokes.

The day before that Sunday duel, Mickelson offered sharp criticism of several of the greens at Quail Hollow Club. He stung everyone involved in the course by saying: "For as beautifully designed as this golf course is tee to green, the greens are by far the worst-designed greens we play on tour. Even though they're in immaculate shape, I would say that 18 would be the worst green we have on tour, except that it's not even the worst green on the golf course. Twelve is."

Ouch. Mickelson even repeated himself in a couple of different interviews to make sure he got the point across.

Mickelson would later sit down with Quail Hollow Club president Johnny Harris to hash out those comments. Mickelson has since said many times that his criticism of the greens wouldn't keep him from coming back to Charlotte, and he was true to his word on that. He said this week that he "probably shouldn't have said anything" about the greens but was frustrated.

Funny thing: the greens haven't really changed at all since last year, although two will be tweaked following this tournament.

But Mickelson is going out of his way to be complimentary about Quail Hollow these days.

"The greens have always rolled well," he said Thursday. "They've always been impeccably maintained and roll beautifully."

Mickelson started his Thursday eating breakfast in a Charlotte coffee shop. The other patrons left him alone until he got up to leave, when they universally wished him luck.

That's Charlotte for you.

Like much of America, we love us some Phil. And even though he did lob that verbal grenade last year, hey, he's back. All is forgiven.